The Leaves on the Ground

Last weekend we worked outside.  Cutting wood, chopping wood, and stacking wood in preparation for the cold air we were to get blasted with during the week. 

The kids wanted to rake leaves too. I didn't think we had a good enough tree, but our flowering magnoila decided to drop a bunch and the boys got to work with their [garden] rakes piling them up.

This was Annika's first experience with leaves, that she remembers at least. Cale kept her entertained by burying himself and popping out at her.

I love taking leaf pictures, but sometimes the kids are less than accommodating and would rather play then pose for pictures or wait for me to be ready before they throw them :)

And sometimes little girls don't understand the meaning of stand with your brothers and would rather throw leaves instead of hold them.

And sometimes you get leaves thrown in your face after asking them to stand and hold leaves for such a picture. Even if you do ask that they throw them up instead.

Sometimes leaves can be dangerous. Or not so much the leaves- but the sticks and nuts and other randomness that can get raked up with the pile.

But it's still fun. To dive in them. And throw them until a full on fight ensues. And apparently it is the most fun to gang up on mom and throw them all on her together.

Two days later the wind started blowing and whistling and blew all the leaves away.

Farm Chores and their Purpose

This post can now be found on The Free Range Life. Here is the link to read Farm Chores and Their Purpose.

Exploring Hendersonville: Part 2

 Once we left the antique car show on Saturday, we stopped by the Apple Valley Model Railroad Club in the old train station since they were holding an open house as well.

We started by exploring the old caboose before heading inside. The boys got instructed on how to operate a model train by one of the junior engineers.

Then we went into see all the models. I always forget how much my kids love exhibits like these. They spent a really long time in these 2 rooms. Watching the trains and the city replicas. They had a little Thomas the Train model set up in back that the kids could operate. Annika loved that part.

 After I pried them away from the trains we headed to our last stop. The WNC Air Museum. Again it was pretty empty, which means we got a really great tour and history of all the of the planes in the building.

There was a gyroplane that they could sit on. And the kids got instructed on how to get into the planes without breaking the wings and were allowed to sit in this WWI aircraft.

There were lots of models and experimental planes. A few unfinished and never flown planes that the museum is working to restore/complete.

 All day we had been seeing the biplane flying overhead, so we stopped to watch it land and take off before we left.

And that concludes our tour of Hendersonville. Big cities have a lot to offer, but sometimes small towns hold little known treasures that can make for a wonderful day.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for Field Trip Friday to link up your best field trips, and to read about how others have spent their time outside of the home!

This post is linked to Field Trip Friday

Love

 Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero.

 - Marc Brown

A brother is a friend given by Nature. 

-Legouve

The Long Road Up

A few months ago I posted about one of my sons and his struggle with anxiety. We had a rough couple of months, but things have finally started to look up. As a parent there is nothing harder than watching your child in pain and struggling. You want to jump in and save them and take their pain as your own. But the truth is you can't. You have to tread water right there along with them, help them stay afloat and guide them to safety. That isn't easy. Even for me, who has experienced similar pain, the path isn't cut and dry. As you maneuver your way through you have to come up with a new normal. You have to help your child find a healthy new normal, because just like adults kids get stuck in bad habits and thought patterns.

At our low point, my anxious son was sleeping on the floor in my room every night. He wasn't sleeping and when he finally did sleep it wasn't restful. He was so stressed out that his body couldn't calm down at all. When he tried to sleep his body fought back with terrible hypnic jerks that woke him up and started his panic. These jerks made the cycle worse. As they occurred and interfered with his sleep he grew more and more exhausted, which in turn made the jerks worse. His interest in things was down. His mood was down. He lost weight. He got stuck in a cycle that had me researching things like Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome. It was a tense time for us, always waiting for when the next cycle might hit.

But we got help. At the end of 2011we found a program called Turnaround. It's a CD based program written for children who suffer from anxiety. It gave us a starting point. It made him think about what was happening to him. It helped me talk him through his anxiety more effectively. It helped him to realize that he isn't alone in this- he isn't weird. And it gave my husband some understanding about a world he had no experience with.

We started positive reinforcement. An incentive for staying in his own bed at night and calming him self down. Something to work towards to help him break the bad habits he admitted he was forming. His currency? Music. He earned one song from iTunes for each night that he was in bed by 10pm. But he couldn't get them until he had earned 4. It took a week to get the first set. And 2 more to get the 2nd set.  As he progressed I changed things- if he came down in the middle of the night and didn't go back to his room he didn't earn. If he didn't stay in bed he lost a song, etc. At one point he got into negative numbers. And once he was so far back we had to wipe the slate clean and start over. But he broke his cycle. As he got to bed earlier, his body got rested and his jerks stopped. He had interests again. He played again. He smiled again. Things were looking up.

Over the past couple months I have been guarded. I know better than to say he's cured and move on with life. I know there will be setbacks. I know he will struggle with anxiety, and most likely depression, in his life. I know he will enter another cycle at some point. But although I knew this,  I can't help but get that sinking feeling when signs start to show. When he ends up in my room at night again.


Are we back at the bottom? No. 10 steps forward, 1 step back. And that is okay. It's part of the journey. We'll make it to the top one of these days. Together.

linked to the Encourage One Another Link Up

The Garden: Disappointment, Frustration and Overcoming

 Back about 8 or 9 years ago, I planted my first garden. It consisted of tilling the ground and planting. My intention was to see how fertile the land was naturally. It wasn't. The garden produced some edibles and lots of weeds. But what I also learned that year was that with 2 little ones it was virtually impossible to keep the garden weeded- at it wasn't even that big!  So we started using cloth and plastic mulch to help keep weeds down. It worked, but I didn't really want to use it- or buy it every year. 

So this year, in our new garden at our new home, I decided I didn't want to use plastic any more. But for some reason I forgot why I used it in the first place. We started with a nicely tilled chunk of land, we worked hard to pull out all the roots and such that could grow again. And we planted. Somewhere around 100 tomato plants, lots of herbs, 20 or so pepper plants, 6 different varieties of summer squash.....

And then....

The wind blew. Or gusted. Or howled. And I learned that even though I didn't need to harden off my plants back in our old garden. I do here. The free range chickens free ranged right into the garden and scratched around. The dogs chased each other around the yard- and the garden. And the grass grew. And grew. And I remembered that I had a hard time keeping a small garden weeded with 2 kids and now I have a huge garden with 5 kids....no way was I going to keep it up. I tried. I kept a weedless circle around the base of most plants. But when the wind stopped and the chickens lost interest and the dogs got fenced. I was left with 30 tomato plants. And 2 squash and much less peppers. I was also left with what looked like  a yard with plants sticking up out of it. 

I was frustrated and disappointed and all those negative things. But then what plants survived got strong, Paul brought home about 36 free tomato plants, 36 free zucchini plants and 50+ free sweet potato plants. We planted beans in the tomato rows to fill in the empty spaces. And we got mulch. 

And the boys worked really hard to tear and soak boxes. Lay them in the garden and shovel the mulch on top. We aren't 100% done. We need more boxes and we will need more wood chips to make the mulch as deep as it should be. 

But what we are left with is so much nicer.

The garden looks healthier, it's easier to get through and not accidentally step on a plant.

And although it seems later than usual to me, things are starting to grow. Green tomatoes and tiny zucchini. And potatoes almost ready to be dug from the ground.

linked to Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways
and The Homestead Barn Hop

Kids in the Kitchen: Weekly Wrap-up

 The boys have been hit by the baking bug. Especially the older 2. And they are testing out their new found skills and freedom in the kitchen.

Rylan woke up early for 3 days in a row this past week and made breakfast for everyone. 

He made waffles, blueberry oat muffins and peanut butter waffles. I didn't get many pictures- I am not a morning person....

Lakin wanted to make granola bars for snack, so Rylan gave him a hand with reading the recipe and measuring everything. Lakin manned the spoon. 

 

Cale made soft pretzels to go with dinner one night.

 

And Rylan made carrot cake for dessert. 

 

He has been pouring over my cookbooks and Allrecipes. He has a long list of fancy desserts he wants to try and make. 

 

Some are simple, like chocolate pudding. But others, like Tiramisu and  Black Tie Mousse Cake (like from The Olive Garden) are a little more involved.

And finally, last night Cale made meatballs for dinner for the meat eaters of the family.

 

What have your kids baked lately?